Tenkar's Tavern is supported by various affiliate programs, including Amazon, RPGNow and Humble Bundle. Your patronage is appreciated and helps keep the lights on and the taps flowing - Your Humble Bartender, Tenkar

RPGNow

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Bringing the OSR Superstar Competition to an Incomplete Completion

I've thought long and hard on how to bring the OSR Superstar Competition to a successful conclusion at this point, and I don't see a simple solution.

So, I'll have to be satisfied with a simple ending, and call it with the four top finalists in place. No final round, no grand winner.

Yeah, anti-climatic as all shit, but at this point, any conclusion to this would be anti-climatic.

The four top finalists will split the final cash prize, the 2 boxed sets will be randomly awarded to 2 of the final 15, and 4 the final 15 will have some mapping goodness coming from http://squarehex.myshopify.com/.

Is it the finish I had planned on? Nope. Neither was 2014 the year I had expected.

I'll be reaching out during the upcoming week to get the necessary info to award the prizes.

I appreciate the work everyone put into their entries. There was some amazing creativity that the judges and I read.

The next time someone makes a suggestion like this to me in the future I'll make sure to have my head examined before answering ;)

7 comments:

Thanks for the update, Eric. I know when I was faced with the step of making a dungeon to order I found myself having no time as well. Life happens. Congrats to those that completed it.Weren't the entries to be released? Is help needed in compiling things?

Search This Blog

Got Something Newsworthy? Your Bartender is Listening ;)

Translate

Contributors

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites